Ask Your Question

Angie's List Answers is the trusted spot to ask home improvement and health questions and get answers from service companies, health providers and consumers. For ratings and reviews on companies in your area, search Angie's List.

1 Answer

In deeply mushed out, so it left ridges of sod pushed out to the side, scalp those off with a shovel, tamp a bit of topsoil into the ruts if needed to level it up with the bottom of the adjacent sod, and lay the removed sod back flat over the tracks, tamp or walk down to provide good contact with the topsoil, and keep well watered for a couple of weeks.

In you mean just indented into the lawn without ridging it, just gently tamp in topsoil to just below the top of the adjacent sod, then sprinkle another 1/4" or so of loose topsoil on top and seed it with whatever type of grass your lawn has, lightly raking the seed in to mostly cover it with just a light covering of soil. Keep moist but not heavily wetted (to avoid washing the seed/sprouts away) until about 3 inches long, then resume normal watering and mowing. Do NOT fertilize till it has been mowed at least 3 times.

If the ruts are quite deep (over an inch or so) put readily compactable but not impervious soil (like a sandy loam or clay or sand with at most fine gravel) into the bottom of the ruts and tamp well before topping up with topsoil as per previous paragraphs.

If a small total area and you do not have ready access to topsoil, you can mix bagged outdoor garden planting mix 50-50% with bagged sand. Typically about $15 for a very large bale of the planting mix or about $7-10 for a cubic foot (about 40#) bag, sand typically about $5-7 for a cubic foot (about 60#) sack.

Another alternative for deeply imbedded tracks - scavenge from an area of your lawn (like edge it) to get scraps of sod and resod the tracks, with filler soil under as needed to get it right level. Or for "instant repair" use sharp shovel to trim the edges roughly into smooth lines, then buy and install sod.

If not into DIY, Landscaping would be the normal Search the List category to find well-rated and reviewed landscaping companies to fix this.